To call it a crazy week would be quite the understatement. First she almost DIES...then she meets a cosmic entity thought of to be nothing but myth and is given powers like THE legend, Paladin. And though her powers were different, they were similar enough that the first time she used them to fight crime, it was an instant correlation, which made her think there was simply some quality about the powers that drew that conclusion.

In any event, mere days after 'recovering' (if one could call being restored by a cosmic entity 'recovering'), she received a communication from a Mr Mayweather with an invitation to meet with him regarding the New Guardians. She knew about them of course, having written a few articles, and besides, who DIDN'T know the Guardians?

The New Guardians though.. she couldn't do much better than that in her new quest to use her powers to fight crime and villainy.. and she had a feeling Mayweather wanted her as a sort of spiritual successor to Paladin, despite her lack of heroic experience. Without any direct guidance from DIVINITY besides to use the powers as her champion, it felt like the right step to take.

So that brought her to the present where she awaited meeting the current active roster of the team along with two other new recruits.

" About half an hour from here", Watcher responds helpfully, " Also, the replacements appear to be ready..."

"This is not very helpful. Any specifics about them? Someone else with a magic background or good investigation skills? Or can you tell us at least how many there are and their names? Do you do any background checks?" Gloom asks slightly irritated, falling after the heat of battle back to his less friendly demeanor.

Anyone doing a check on Gloom should be able to find out that he was a crook mostly active in Europe before "being joined" with the Guardians.

I just checked the sheet and somehow it misses my envisioned Prejudice and Motivation Complications for him. May I add them to the sheet?

"If they are close to Los Angeles, send them to the museum while we go on to Arkham. We'll meet them later when we have time." Trissa paused to think for a moment. She had to assume that they'd be capable of handling a burglary investigation. "That is, if there's another transport available for them."

" Well, there is the teleportation system", Watcher says, then turns his attention to Gloom. " I am just reviewing data. Our new members are: TimberWolf, non-powered but a skilled combatant. He also scored very high on the detective tests. Then there is Jack Vandal...who is non-powered but has a superpowered alter ego named Apex. Big strong monster. And finally, we have Valkyrie. Apparently, she is divinely-empowered. Like Father of Peace or our dear, departed Paladin..."

Alright, for convenience's sake I will assume that everyone has been called onto Guardian Isle and outfitted with a communicator unit.

After a short introductory speech by Maywheather, you are led to the teleportarium where Watcher, the base's AI treats you to a short description of the quantum tunnelling effect you are soon to experience.Afterwards comes a bright flash of light...and then the unexpected and quite unwelcome sensation of being dragged to infinite size while repeatedly punched in the stomach right before being put back together wrongly.

But you all seem ok as you materialize right behind the other members of the New Guardians aboard the Flyer.

His expression changes to a somewhat lop-sided smile as he looks around the interior of the aircraft. Reaching into the pocket of his black leather longcoat, he pulls out what looks like a slightly over-sized slider cellphone. Sliding it open, he quickly pushes a button on it's keypad.

He looks back up at the heroes who he will be working with.

"I'm TimberWolf, but you can call me Alec in private. It's a pleasure to meet you all.

"Now, um, if someone could tell us where we're going and why, it would be greatly appreciated."

ooc wrote:just activating the gps on the smart-link. like to know where exactly i am, just in case...

Here comes the Dog!Stong and brave!Here comes the Dog!The day he will save!

The dusky-skinned woman groans as she appears, holding a hand across her abdomen, looking a little green. "Yeah...could have lived without that..."

Giving herself a moment to compose herself while Alec introduces herself, she looks around at the other occupants, both those she met very briefly back at Guardian Isle, and the current roster aboard the Flyer.

"I suppose I'll go next. You can call my Valkyrie. I'm pretty new to this whole superheroing thing...so I'll try not to get in the way."

Jack lurched as he suddenly appeared in the rear of the flyer. Oooh! Apex like dat, again?!? Disoriented by the sudden transport, Vandal spoke aloud. "Listen big guy, the alien abductions and the probing were less invasive than that, we're NOT doing that again!"

Hearing his voice echo from the confined cabin, Vandal realized his mistake. "Sorry folks, inside voice, outside voice and all. Judging by the size of this bird, we're probably lucky Mayweather picked us up in my civvies. Name's Jack, though I am assuming I got the invite because you want the other guy."

Jack looked around the cabin, nodded towards Valkyrie and Timberwolf, whom he had seen in the initial briefing with Mayweather. The others he knew by reputation only, the fierce amazonian Trissa, the distinguished arabic scholar, and the oddly ethereal Gloom.

"So what's the situation ladies and gentlemen, why were we brought in and how can we help?"

Where Apex' burgers? Jack promised burgers.

"Uh. Is there an in-flight meal on this bird?"

"If sacred spaces are spared the ravages of war -- make all places sacred. And if the holy people are to be kept harmless from war -- make all peoples holy." -- Norrin Radd (Silver Surfer: Requiem; J. Michael Straczynski)

"A pleasure to make you acquaintance young ones; Ic am Se Enlightened One." The exotic wizard bows almost exaggeratedly. "Thou were brought before us to assist us in a matter most urgent. A foul piece of wizardry literature has been stolen by unlikely wrongdoers, former heroes of seir land. We need to locate and seal the Necronomicon again. " the wizard explains.

Valkyrie looks at the aged fellow, trying to dissemble his accent into recognizable words, though one word needs no such aid. "Necronomicon...that certainly sounds ominous...well, T.E.O.." she says each letter, though it comes out in the end sounding like "Tio", "Do we have a plan then?"

She looks to Trissa and Gloom as well, in case on of them is the tactical mastermind. She's not even really sure who the leader is, having been told it was sort of up in the air at this juncture. She of course had no interest on it. Her lack of experience would probably get everyone killed. Far better she just focus on doing her best not to get anyone hurt without trying to direct everyone as well.

"Well, we have actually two leads. One is a scholar to tell us more about the dread book, the other is te crime scene that we should investigate. And thanks for trying the teleporter for us. It seems it works after all." Gloom explains.

Jack contemplated a moment. Things were a little out of his area of expertise, the occult was not his strong point.

"To make sure we're clear; we have the scene where this Necronomicon was stolen, and we have an occult specialist who can tell us what is contained within the book itself that makes it worth stealing?" Apex grumbled in Jack's mind. See, books bad. Apex always knew books bad, dats why he always tell Jack to *stop* reading! With a chuckle Jack continued his assessment. "Well, I'm not half bad at solving puzzles, or thinking things through, it's kind of how my brain is wired. Do we know who took this book, where was it being secured? How was it taken, and were there any injuries? I'm pretty sure I don't even know *what* to ask an occult specialist ... but I'll take whichever lead doesn't involve being teleported again ... because if that's working I do not think that word means what you think it means."

"If sacred spaces are spared the ravages of war -- make all places sacred. And if the holy people are to be kept harmless from war -- make all peoples holy." -- Norrin Radd (Silver Surfer: Requiem; J. Michael Straczynski)

"If we already know who the perpetrators are, what, exactly, would you be looking for at the crime scene? Are we needing to build an evidentiary case, determine the method used to carry out the theft or looking for clues as to their current whereabouts?

"From your wording," he looks at T.E.O., "it sounds like the perps are foreign nationals. It also sounds as though you suspect that they may have been coerced into committing the crime.

"Depending on how long ago the theft took place and how secure the crime scene is, I'd reccomend interviewing the expert first. If it does become necessary to visit the crime scene, we can proceed there afterwords.

"Oh, and if you can id the perps, I can start getting some feelers out as to where they might be..."

He leans forward, suddenly looking entirely professional.

Here comes the Dog!Stong and brave!Here comes the Dog!The day he will save!